Water-soluble unit dose articles are preferred by consumers as they offer effective and efficient means of dosing appropriate levels of detergent or cleaning compositions to the wash. However, water-soluble unit dose articles come in the form of small pouches containing concentrated detergent or cleaning compositions.
Aversive agents can be added to water-soluble unit dose article to reduce likelihood of accidental ingestion. Such aversive agents could be substance that provide a bitter taste to the unit dose article and so elicit an instinctive impulse to spit the unit dose article out of the mouth.
One method of providing the unit dose article with an aversive agent is to formulate it within the water-soluble film itself. However, such a method introduces manufacturing complexity as the aversive agent has to be formulated into the film without affecting film dissolution or general stability.
Therefore, it is preferred to add the aversive agent in such a way that minimises effect on film stability and dissolution profiles and also minimises manufacturing complexity. Furthermore, there is a need to add the aversive agent in such a way that if the unit dose article is accidentally ingested, the aversive agent can effectively motivate the user to spit it out, and such effective motivation should be provided over the lifetime of the unit dose article (e.g. after a period of storage). A final requirement is that the aversive agent be present at a concentration effective to provide the motivation to spit it out whilst also avoiding formulating excessive unneeded aversive agent which is wasteful and costly.
It was surprisingly found that the unit dose article of the present invention and methods of making said unit dose article overcame these problems.